May 30 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Melanie Cleveland The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

He is a volunteer who dons a special protective suit to go into the plant's steam generator bowls to inspect for cracks and to clean up debris when reactor is shutdown for maintenance

David Beals has been a mechanical engineer at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant for four years.

Much of his job involves plant "walk-downs," checking instrument measurements and making sure the generators and other equipment are working properly. He also sits at his desk, handling a lot of paperwork such as filling out field work transmittals, revising mechanical drawings and writing progress reports.

But five times in the past four years, Beals has shed his engineer identity to become a steam-generator jumper. He now trains others how to do it.

A jumper is someone who volunteers to go into the steam generator bowl, and its radiation field, to block off pipes connected to the nuclear reactor (when it is shut down for refueling and maintenance) about 40 feet away. Beals dams the pipes in order to check for cracks and to clean up debris in the steam generator system.

"I love to jump because it's the only really physical thing I do in my work -- and there's a lot of teamwork and camaraderie in getting the work done," he said.

What you see: Beals dons a yellow, plastic bubble suit and halo helmet as he stands next to a mock-steam generator designed for jumping practice. The loud fan in his helmet, important for fresh air to flow into the suit, makes it difficult for him to hear outside noise.

Beals climbs up a ladder to a platform a few feet under a 16-inch manhole that leads into the steam generator bowl. He raises his arms above his head, and, like Superman, jumps up headfirst through the hole and disappears.

What he sees: Beals squats in the plant's metal steam generator bowl, a curved space about the size of a Volkswagen. It's dark, tight, humid and hot.

"I call the plastic suit my own personal sauna," he said. "It makes you sweat. I'm also in a hurry, but I try not to get amped up. It's important to stay collected, to keep my breathing even, so the hood doesn't fog up."

He surveys the walls and floor for potential debris, drills a 120-pound flat rubber and metal piece to dam a tunnel hole leading into the nuclear reactor, and then jumps back out of the hole again.

To minimize radiation exposure, Beals has less than five minutes to complete the task, which is timed. Beals' last time, three weeks ago, was 2 minutes, 1 second.

What he likes best: "The satisfaction of finishing something in 2 minutes when most of my other work can take as long as a week."

What he would change: The nozzle dam apparatus. "The bolts take a (relatively) long time to drill. When we get the new generators a couple of years from now, we'll have deadbolts instead. They'll be a lot quicker to install."

Reach Melanie Cleveland at 781-7962.

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